Impact of a Naturalistic Psychedelic Experience on Smoking: A Retrospective Survey

ABSTRACT

Tobacco use disorder is a major public health concern. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a psychedelic experience in a natural context on tobacco use. A retrospective online survey was conducted on 173 individuals who reported having had a psychedelic experience while being smokers. Demographic information was collected, and characteristics of the psychedelic experience, tobacco addiction and psychological flexibility were assessed. Mean number of cigarettes smoked per day, and proportion of individuals with high tobacco dependency significantly decreased between the three time points (p < .001). Participants who reduced or quit smoking had more intense mystical experiences during the psychedelic session (p = .01) and lower psychological flexibility before the psychedelic experience (p = .018). The increase in psychological flexibility post psychedelic session, and the personal motives for the psychedelic experience were significant positive predictors of smoking reduction or cessation (p < .001). Our results confirmed that a psychedelic experience in smoker individuals can be associated with smoking and tobacco dependency reduction and that the personal motives for the psychedelic session, the intensity of the mystical experience, and the increase of psychological flexibility following the psychedelic experience, are associated with smoking cessation or reduction.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychedelic
• addiction
• tobacco use disorder
• smoking
• psychological flexibility

Acknowledgments

We thank the French Psychedelic Society (Société psychédélique française) for the help in setting-up and disseminating the survey.

Disclosure statement

R.B., F.B., D.S., SB.L., A.A., V.V., P.P. have no conflict of interest. A.B. has given talk for Lundbeck, Mylan, Merck-Serono and Bristol-Myers Squibb and is a member of board at Indivior.

Data availability statement

Information Letter and Consent Form mentioned that the data will be securely stored and administrated by the authors. Therefore, we cannot make the data publicly available. However, if properly justified, the corresponding author can send the data on demand at his discretion.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2023.2227171

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.